Automatic analyzer

Abstract

An automatic analyzer has a multi-wavelength light source that irradiates a reaction cuvette containing a liquid mixture of a sample to be analyzed and a reagent. A transmitted-light quantity detector detects the amount of light transmitted through the reaction cuvette and internal contents of the reaction cuvette. A single-wavelength light source irradiates the reaction cuvette with single-wavelength light; and a transmitted-light quantity detector detects the amount of single-wavelength light scattered from the reaction cuvette. A memory stores the results of the transmitted-light quantity detection and the scattered-light quantity detection; and the deterioration states of the single-wavelength light source, multi-wavelength light source, and reaction cuvette are determined in accordance with measurement results of cell blank measurements conducted on the reaction cuvette where a predetermined reference solution is stored to detect the amount of light transmitted through and the amount of light scattered from.

The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. An automatic analyzer comprising:
 a multi-wavelength light source that irradiates with multi-wavelength light a reaction cuvette containing a liquid mixture of a sample to be analyzed and a reagent; 
 transmitted-light quantity detection means that detects an amount of light transmitted through the reaction cuvette and internal contents of the reaction cuvette; 
 a single-wavelength light source that irradiates the reaction cuvette with single-wavelength light; 
 scattered-light quantity detection means that detects an amount of single-wavelength light scattered from the reaction cuvette and the internal contents of the reaction cuvette; 
 a storage unit that stores a result of the transmitted-light quantity detection with the transmitted-light quantity detection means and a result of the scattered-light quantity detection with the scattered-light quantity detection means; and 
 a determining unit that performs a deterioration determining process to determine deterioration states of the single-wavelength light source, multi-wavelength light source, and reaction cuvette in accordance with measurement results of cell blank measurements conducted on the reaction cuvette where a predetermined reference solution is stored to detect an amount of light transmitted through and an amount of light scattered from. 
 
     
     
       2. The automatic analyzer according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 an arithmetic unit that computes differences between a first measurement result and a second measurement result of cell blank measurements, 
 wherein the first measurement result is from a cell blank measurement conducted at predefined reference points in time that are earlier than when cell blank measurements intended for the deterioration determining process are conducted, the first measurement result being stored in the storage unit, 
 wherein the second measurement result is from a cell blank measurement intended for the deterioration determining process, and 
 wherein the determining unit performs the deterioration determining process on a basis of a computation result by the arithmetic unit. 
 
     
     
       3. The automatic analyzer according to  claim 2 ,
 wherein if deterioration of the reaction cuvette is determined to have begun during the deterioration determining process, the determining unit issues a cell check alarm signal to inform an operator that an error relating to the reaction cuvette has occurred. 
 
     
     
       4. The automatic analyzer according to  claim 2 ,
 wherein if deterioration of the single-wavelength light source is determined to have begun during the deterioration determining process, the determining unit issues a single-wavelength light source check alarm signal to inform the operator that an error relating to the single-wavelength light source has occurred. 
 
     
     
       5. The automatic analyzer according to  claim 2 ,
 wherein if deterioration of the multi-wavelength light source is determined to have begun during the deterioration determining process, the determining unit issues a multi-wavelength light source check alarm signal to inform the operator that an error relating to the multi-wavelength light source has occurred.